Atorvastatin for High Cholesterol User Reviews (Page 4)

• Sue...
• March 8, 2014

"I went to a Lipidologist to find out why my HDL was better than optimal, but my LDL-p was close to 2000 (should be under 1000). Found out it was due to genetics, and no amount of exercise and healthy food would matter. She put me on Atorvastatin, and two months later my LDL-p was at 740. I have had absolutely no side effects in a year of use. Would I like to be off of all meds? Sure, but my low thyroid and high LDL suggest otherwise. So, up to now, all is well."

• Jeff...
• August 30, 2015

"I was only on this med for about 6 weeks when I finally figured out it was causing severe joint pain in my knees and feet. Stopped taking it and the pain went away after one day. Also caused diahrea. I'm going to try lowering my cholesterol with diet and exersize. Too many risks of side effects with statins."

• wiggles
• Taken for 2 to 5 years
• August 18, 2018

"I have been taking statins for 3 years now and this site rates up there as a good resource for medication experience. There seems to be medication manufacturer/retail people posting here touting how great medications are. My advice is to be aware of anyone making statements that taking medications over lifestyle change is the answer. In 10 years from now if we have 10's of millions of people with cancer and liver disease what will they say then. Health care employs more people with very high salaries than any other profession and to keep it going there is no telling what they may do. Be careful and take care of your health and by that I do not mean taking more medications. It saddens me to see young people under 35 years old taking this drug. Please try all the lifestyle options before drugs."

• GMG
• Taken for 1 to 6 months
• April 20, 2021

Lipitor (atorvastatin) "My doctor prescribed 10 mg due to high cholesterol. I had “above the range” results in most of the lipid categories. After just 4 months and no side effects, my numbers are all significantly lower and all are within the normal ranges. I was shocked, but very pleased!"

• cholab
• January 19, 2017

"Prescribed 10mg. Side effects started with upset stomach (improved with always taking with food). Within a couple weeks, the side effects exploded. No idea of whether or not it improved my labs (they were not supposed to be drawn for 2 more weeks).I am a vegetarian (no meat of any kind, no dairy milk, do eat some dairy cheese and eggs) and also a licensed massage therapist (so I know "normal" muscle tension or joint pain and how to improve it). My side effects (in no particular order): muscle cramps/pain/weakness/swelling/tightness, tiredness, diarrhea/intestinal cramping, increased ringing in the ears, and depression/angry mood swings. 3 days without med- pain, etc continues to improve."

• Anonymous
• March 27, 2017

"I had a heart attack and my doc gave me this to take .Within days was worse off than before my heart attack. Always dizzy, confused, diarrhea, muscle cramps, short of breath, insomnia. I quit taking them and I feel so much better now and its only been 4 days since I quit taking them. This script is horrible and needs to be taken off the market!!Oh also headaches every damn day which i never ever had them before."

• Bad...
• October 20, 2015

"I took 10mg for a week. Severe stomach pains, muscle pains and joint pain. It felt like I had body aches from the flu! So tired wiped out my energy. Also, where I broke my wrist I was getting sharp stabbing pains there. Called the doctor and he said stop taking it immediately. Thank god because these side effects were horrible. Going to try exercise, green tea and essentials oils before I even give another brand a try."

• Fen
• Taken for 2 to 5 years
• June 16, 2020

"Been taking this drug for 4 yrs now after experiencing a TIA followed by emergency carotid endarterectomy, cholesterol levels are good and have not experienced any side effects at all , all annual blood tests have been all ok ."

• house...
• Taken for 5 to 10 years
• April 6, 2015

"Atorvastatin prescribed for years. on January woke up with severe leg cramps in both legs, aching in morning, couldn't walk any distance, joint pains severe, back so painful. Doc never mentioned it could be tabs and I couldn't believe a neighbour who was exactly the same as me. Her doc took her off them and she's back to her gym routine and never felt better!!! I've stopped them 3 days ago and I've never felt better. Started back at my gym."

• Hugh...
• Taken for 1 to 6 months
• December 31, 2017

"Been on atorvastin for about 3 -4 weeks the first couple of weeks felt very fuzzy and light headed eyes wouldn’t focus additionally had sharp stabbing pain in my back. Stopped taking them for a week then started again now I’m getting chest tightness aches around chest and back plus heart pounding all the time esp at night which is messing with my sleep ( haven’t slept much at all since taking this drug come to think of it) Also had bad farts embarrassing as I don’t know when it will happen. Sick of being a test patient for my doctor ... stopping tomorrow"

• Anonymous
• August 16, 2009

Lipitor (atorvastatin) "Have been taking 10 mg for about 2 years, doctor recently increased to 50 mg, my legs are cramping up and are sore from where they have cramped. I am going to doctor tomorrow to see if dose can be reduced."

• LMG
• Taken for less than 1 month
• December 27, 2019

"I started taking 20mg because my doctor suggested I should be taking this due to my abdominal aortic aneurysm. I do not have high cholesterol, in fact I'm in pretty decent shape for a 52 yr old (non-smoking) female. I'm the type of person who would rather not take meds unless absolutely necessary. I read the side effects and became paranoid it was destroying my liver. (Had blood test & my liver was fine.) I did however go to work and was noticeably spacey & unable to concentrate. I stopped taking it immediately after that. Now they are pushing it again post Triple A surgery, even though my arteries seemed fine and cholesterol is still ok. I'm hesitant to give it another try but going to see how it goes. I know some people get very bad muscle aches & I'm praying that doesn't happen. Wish I could get the truth on this med."

• Anonymous
• September 28, 2019

"atorvastatin worked bringing down my Triglycerides. But my joint pain forced me to change meds. My wrist have arthritis in them yes, but I never had pain until I took this med. The pain was unbearable."

• Pearcey
• Taken for 1 to 6 months
• March 7, 2017

"67 years old reasonably fit male until I had a mini stroke in Jan 17. In hospital they put me on 80mg atorvastatin once a day. Within four weeks every muscle in my body ached. Went to the doctors and he reduced the dose to 40mg a day. Another three weeks later I couldn't get out of bed or walk due to aching muscles. Stopped taking them completely and within three days felt thirty per cent better. Another three weeks have gone bye and still ache like hell. They might lower cholesterol for some people and be a godsend but I never want to see another one in my life. They have ruined my way of life."

• TCano
• Taken for 6 months to 1 year
• January 16, 2020

"Amazing results! My doctor and I are thrilled. 6 months ago, my total cholesterol was still hovering just north of 300. Today it is 165. Over 100 points cut from my LDL, and Trigs (Lovaza alone got these down from 400 to 250) went down a good bit too. All lipids are in the normal range for the first time in my adult life. No side effects at all."

• taxme...
• February 19, 2017

"I had very high cholesterol, 280. Prescribed Atorvastatin 20 mg, Began to have erratic blood pressure within a week of taking it going as high as 190 over 100, sending me rushing to the ER. Doctor put me on BP meds and upped my Atorvastatin to 40MG. Within a week the erratic BP continued and I developed a cough with Phlegm most noticeable at night before sleep and when I awoke. I then developed acute dizziness, severe soreness in chest and lungs, significant pain in my surgically repaired tendon in my hand, numbness that ran up my arm to my head on one side of my body. My labs came back with my total cholesterol reduced to 125. But I became prediabetic, liver function abnormal, and creative protein rising from 1 to 6. I stopped taking it."

• billie
• February 7, 2019

"I live in Australia. I am 74. On 29th January had a cardiac stent in left circumflex artery. I was on Crestor 10mg daily, Prior to procedure I had no symptoms, went to gym for an hour 3-4 times a week. After successful procedure at the hospital my meds were changed including changing Crestor to 80 mg Atrovastatin daily. As I was walking out of the hospital I felt a little breathless. So went to the emegency dept at local hospital. Nothing much was done there. My wife told me that my skin colour was strange and yellowish. When discharged, because of the coincidence between feeling unwell and change in medication, and as I could not see a doctor straight away I took myself off the new meds and reverted back to the old one and went to see a dr the next day. He told me I did the right thing. Now, after taking Atrovastatin for four days and not having it for the past four days, I feel fit but still a bit tired, but people at work still comment about my yellowish skin colour."

• Anonymous
• October 20, 2022

Lipitor (atorvastatin) "Aug 8 (Reuters) - Pharmaceutical giant Pfizer is facing a mounting wave of lawsuits by women who allege that the company knew about possible serious side effects of its blockbuster anti-cholesterol drug Lipitor but never properly warned the public. In the past five months, a Reuters review of federal court filings shows, lawsuits by U.S. women who say that taking Lipitor gave them type-2 diabetes have shot up from 56 to almost 1,000. Lawsuits began to be filed not long after the Food and Drug Administration in 2012 warned that Lipitor and other statins had been linked to incidents of memory loss and a “small increased risk” of diabetes. According to plaintiffs’ lawyers, women face a higher risk than men of developing diabetes from using Lipitor, and gain fewer benefits"

• saps
• Taken for 6 months to 1 year
• April 4, 2017

"Been taking 10mg of atorvastatin for six months now. LDL was 188 now is 95 so a 50% drop. Total cholesterol from 263 to 136, again nearly 50%. Triglycerides from 154 to 40 which is like 75%. The only not stellar number was my HDL (the good cholesterol) which actually dropped from 44 to 33. Even though most peoples goes up slightly. While that is a concern overall the improvement in my numbers has my cardiologist pleased enough to continue the protocol. For everyone who complains of the muscle aches and pains, you need to be taking ubiquinol, not simply coQ10. I know if I go too many days without my ubiquinol I can be susceptible to the muscle issues too. 200mg of ubiquinol every day prevents this."

• Roni
• Taken for 1 to 6 months
• December 23, 2022

"I started taking Atorvastatin 20mg daily about 2-3 months ago, and started having weird side effects. I noticed both legs, from the knee down, started having some pain and swelling. The swelling was the worse. The pain would have been bearable if that had been the only problem. Another side effect was some nausea, and the ACID REFLUX, was worse than I had ever had since my initial diagnosis 30 years ago. I also noticed memory loss and dizziness. I just felt horrible. I actually thought something terrible was happening. I work in healthcare, so my first thought was, what has changed in my routine, so I stopped the atorvastatin, for a couple of days, and I noticed improvement fairly quickly, so I had to be certain that it was the medication. I decided to give the Atorvastatin another try, and the negative side effects started again. Needless to say, I will never take this medication again."

• Creol...
• September 24, 2015

"Started on 10mg daily in May. Began having headaches daily and my joints in my hands increased in pain, especially in the am. I am in my 4th month now headaches are much better. Hands still hurt but seem a little better. Now my back aches a lot and I feel tired every morning. It's like I stayed up half the night making it a chore to get up and get ready for work. I worry about all the things this drug may be doing to my kidneys, liver and muscles. However, after 3 months my cholesterol and LDL dropped significantly. I would like to maybe decrease to every other day or maybe try diet and exercise again."

• Anonymous
• Taken for 1 to 6 months
• July 31, 2015

"Was on 10 mg of Atorvastatin, my cholesterol went way down. After about 6 months, I developed severe cramping in back of legs, especially behind my knee cap. Pain came every night and every morning. There were times I couldn't pick my legs up to get over the curb. Sometimes I wasn't sure I was going to make it to work. Pain was in both legs ran down from behind my butt checks to my heel."

• spd
• Taken for less than 1 month
• May 13, 2017

"Felt I was having a heart attack but without the chest pain. Every muscle in my body seemed to go into rigidity and I could not move. Heavy sweating. Severe pain in muscles and joints. Difficulty breathing that turned into wheezing and gasping for breath. Panic. Dizziness. This was my THIRD dose of medication."

• Anonymous
• February 28, 2009

Lipitor (atorvastatin) "Lowers cholestorol but I have the oddest side effect - I call it itchy feet. In the bottoms only and nothing stops the itchy feeling, except Neurontin. It's an internal nerve itch, not external. I was scratching on concrete, anything to make it stop."

• Unknown
• August 2, 2015

"When taking Atorvastatin I have developed many side effects. I have had headaches, dizziness, lack of energy, weakness, like I'm always tired, chills, fever, cramps, sore eyes, and mood swings. Although this medication seems to work well."